Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Marrion]

[1] We have searched everywhere for the missed reports.
[2] We have searched everywhere for the missing reports.
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I want to know the difference of the meaning between [1] and [2].

[Barnez1]

Hi Marrion,

Good question which has me scratching my head a little. OK....


[1] We have searched everywhere for the missed reports.

In sentence [1], the reports were not included in the original report audit or check. Maybe they were misplaced, or overlooked. The emphasis is that they were missed by the person who was checking all the reports were in place. So although we are still searching for them, we are also giving a clue as to why we are searching for them: someone missed the reports when checking them at some point in the past.


[2] We have searched everywhere for the missing reports.

In sentence [2], the emphasis is that they are missing and not where they should be. We are less concerned with why or how they came to be missing (as we are in sentence [1]), we are just concerned with the fact that they are not where they should be.


I hope that helps!
Barnez
www.englishlc.com
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[Marrion]

I got it perfactly!!!!!!!!
I have another question!

I want to know...

"Those headed North" means that people are headed North because of something.

"Those heading North" means that people are heading North at their own will.

Is my reason correct?